Brewfest 2009!

This weekend was the third annual Magic City Brewfest, and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend with friends and family alike. If you read my previous Free the Hops postings, you'll know this was especially momentous thanks to Governor Bob Riley repealing the puritanical 5.9% alcohol by volume restriction on beer, allowing us to have access to an unprecedented bounty of quality brews. As a sort of welcome to this brave new world, I decided to dive into the malty unknown. We were given fairly nice little glasses made of real glass, which had a two ounce fill line, which was more than enough for a few swallows of each sample. Given our massive selection and short tasting time of four hours, we had our work cut out for us. Fortunately, my wife and I tried something different each turn and then tried what the other had, so we could get more tastes. Here's roughly the list of liquid breads I dabbled in:

• Boulevard IPA
• Boulevard Single Wide IPA
• Boulevard Pale Ale
• Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat
• Brooklyn Brown Ale
• Brooklyn Lager
• Highland Gaelic Ale
• Highland Oatmeal Porter
• Highland St. Terese's Pale Ale
• Lazy Magnolia Indian Summer
• Lazy Magnolia Jefferson Stout
• Lazy Magnolia Southern Gold
• Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan
• Abita Andygator
• Carlsberg Elephant
• Duvel
• Emerald Coast Amber Lager
• Emerald Coast Pale Ale
• Emerald Coast Pilsner
• Good People Brown Ale
• Good People Coffee Oatmeal Stout
• Good People IPA
• Good People Mumbai Rye IPA
• Good People Snake Handler DIPA
• Mendoncino Eye of the Hawk
• Mendoncino White Hawk IPA
• Olde Towne Amber
• Olde Towne Bock
• Olde Towne Pale Ale
• Olde Towne Pilsner
• Rogue Brutal Bitter
• Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar
• Rogue XS Imperial Stout
• Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout
• Samuel Smith's Organic Lager
• Saranac Pale Ale
• Saranac Pomegranate Wheat
• Sweetwater Road Trip
• Hebrew Messiah Bold
• Palma Louca
• Tilburg Dutch Brown Ale
• Bavik
• Dominion Ale
• Dominion Beach House Golden Pilsner
• Dominion Lager
• Dominion Oak Barrel Stout
• Dominion Pale Ale
• Durango Amber Ale
• Durango Dark Lager
• Durango Golden Ale
• Durango Wheat Beer
• Famosa Fordham Copperhead Ale
• Fordham Helles Lager
• Fordham Tavern Ale
• Great Divide Denver Pale Ale
• Great Divide Hercules Double IPA
• Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout
• Tommyknocker Alpine Glacier Lager
• Tommyknocker Jack Whacker Wheat
• Tommyknocker Maple Nut Brown Ale
• Tommyknocker Ornery Amber Ale
• Tommyknocker Imperial Nut Brown Ale
• Witterkerke
• Back Forty Naked Pig Ale

Bolded are roughly what I'd consider to be my fifteen favorites of what I tried. Keep in mind this is a slightly rushed and incomplete tasting, but I recall really enjoying these. A lot of stouts and brown ales in particular, as well as great IPA's. I am really excited about the selection we're starting to get. I've already gone on a few beer runs into Birmingham and have found plenty of selections that weren't even offered at the Brewfest, so I'm keen on trying them all.

In the spirit of giving each beer its own tasting in full, I'm going to try and do a weekly beer roundup posting from here on out. I've already had a few that I can't wait to talk about.

All in all, it was a really fun time at Brewfest. It's a really great time to be a beer fan in Alabama, that's for sure!